Wald, Patricia McGowan (1928—)

American judge who was one of the first two women trustees of the Ford Foundation . Born on September 16, 1928, in Torrington, Connecticut; daughter of Joseph F. McGowan and Margaret (O'Keefe) Mc-Gowan; Connecticut College for Women in New London, B.A., 1948; Yale Law School, LL.B., 1951; married Robert L. Wald, on June 22, 1952; children: Sarah; Douglas; Johanna; Frederica; Thomas.

Admitted to D.C. bar (1952); served as clerk for U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals judge (1951–52); associate at firm of Arnold, Fortas & Porter, Washington (1952–53); was a member of the D.C. Crime Commission (1964–65); worked at Department of Justice (1967); worked at Neighborhood Legal Service, D.C. (1968–70); was co-director, Ford Foundation Project Drug Abuse (1970), Center for Law and Social Policy (1971–72), and Mental Health Law Project (1972); was assistant attorney general for legislative affairs, Department of Justice (1977–79); became judge, U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. (1979), became chief judge (1986).

Born in 1928, Patricia McGowan Wald earned her undergraduate degree at the Connecticut College for Women in New London in 1948, before moving on to law school at Yale University in New Haven. After graduation in 1951, her career path led her to the Ford Foundation to join Dorothy Nepper-Marshall as the first two women trustees of the foundation in 1971. The following year, she joined the Mental Health Law Project, which served as a springboard to her appointment as assistant U.S. attorney general for legislative affairs from 1977 to 1979. Thereafter, she served the justice system as a judge in the Washington, D.C., circuit of the United States Court of Appeals, becoming chief judge in 1986.

sources:

Read, Phyllis J., and Bernard L. Witlieb. The Book of Women's Firsts. NY: Random House, 1992.

Jacquie Maurice , freelance writer, Calgary, Alberta, Canada